Author: Lee Johnson
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1612007686
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 187
Book Description
Excerpts from the many unofficial “manuals” avidly bought by members of the British Home Guard desperate to prepare for invasion during World War II. How would you clear a stoppage on a Bren Gun while in action? What is the most effective way to clear a wood of enemy forces? How best could you counter a landing by enemy airborne forces in your area? What measure can you take to help ensure accurate rifle fire at night? What qualities should you look for when selecting a patrol commander? Just a few of the practical questions posed—and answered—in the selection of publications included in The Home Guard Training Pocket Manual. Numerous manuals and training pamphlets were privately published during World War II to supplement the slim official Home Guard manual produced by the War Office. Covering everything from patrolling, night fighting, drill and small arms proficiency to the legal powers of the Home Guard, these manuals were welcomed by the men of local Home Guard units keen to do everything possible to prepare for possible invasion—when they would be the first line of defense. This pocket manual collates a selection of material from these fascinating publications, often written by serving soldiers and reprinted multiple times due to demand.
To the Last Man
Author: Malcolm Atkin
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526745941
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
This historical study of the UK’s WWII homeland defense service dispels the propaganda and pop culture myths to reveal its true wartime role. In 1940, Britain formed an armed citizen militia to act as the first line of defense in case of Nazi invasion—an essential, if suicidal, mission intended to buy time for the organization of regular forces. Officially, they were the Home Guard. Later, a British sitcom that ran for nearly a decade in the 60s and 70s dubbed them Dad’s Army. That show contributed to a distorted perception of the Home Guard that persists today. But as Malcolm Atkin reveals in this thought-provoking book, the Home Guard’s image was manipulated from its earliest days. Sifting through official documents and contemporary histories, as well as stories, artwork and poetry of the era, and comparing these with postwar films and histories, Atkin explores how the myths of the Home Guard arose and were exploited. He also shows how the strong sense of gallows-humor amongst its volunteers—which fits in with a long tradition of self-deprecating humor in the British army—was taken out of context and became the basis of the TV series. To the Last Man strips back the myths, analyzing how the modern perception has evolved. The result is a new, gritty, and sometimes shocking appreciation of the role that the Home Guard was expected to play in the Second World War.
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526745941
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
This historical study of the UK’s WWII homeland defense service dispels the propaganda and pop culture myths to reveal its true wartime role. In 1940, Britain formed an armed citizen militia to act as the first line of defense in case of Nazi invasion—an essential, if suicidal, mission intended to buy time for the organization of regular forces. Officially, they were the Home Guard. Later, a British sitcom that ran for nearly a decade in the 60s and 70s dubbed them Dad’s Army. That show contributed to a distorted perception of the Home Guard that persists today. But as Malcolm Atkin reveals in this thought-provoking book, the Home Guard’s image was manipulated from its earliest days. Sifting through official documents and contemporary histories, as well as stories, artwork and poetry of the era, and comparing these with postwar films and histories, Atkin explores how the myths of the Home Guard arose and were exploited. He also shows how the strong sense of gallows-humor amongst its volunteers—which fits in with a long tradition of self-deprecating humor in the British army—was taken out of context and became the basis of the TV series. To the Last Man strips back the myths, analyzing how the modern perception has evolved. The result is a new, gritty, and sometimes shocking appreciation of the role that the Home Guard was expected to play in the Second World War.
British TV Comedies
Author: Juergen Kamm
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137552956
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393
Book Description
This collection offers an overview of British TV comedies, ranging from the beginnings of sitcoms in the 1950s to the current boom of 'Britcoms'. It provides in-depth analyses of major comedies, systematically addressing their generic properties, filmic history, humour politics and cultural impact.
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137552956
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393
Book Description
This collection offers an overview of British TV comedies, ranging from the beginnings of sitcoms in the 1950s to the current boom of 'Britcoms'. It provides in-depth analyses of major comedies, systematically addressing their generic properties, filmic history, humour politics and cultural impact.
The British Home Guard Pocketbook
Author: A.F.U. Green
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472835573
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 218
Book Description
'The Home Guards are an attacking force lying in wait for, and ready to destroy, any enemy who dares to set foot on out shores.' The Home Guard has been immortalised in British culture in the TV series Dad's Army. Formed by men not eligible for active service – too old, too young, in reserved occupations vital to the war effort – who were expected to resist a German invasion with any resources they had to hand, the Home Guard is the embodiment of plucky British resolve against the odds. The British Home Guard Pocket-Book evokes this spirit. Written by Brig-Gen Green, commanding 4th battalion, Sussex Home Guard and Training Adviser for the Sussex Zone, this book is based on his experience and, in his own words, 'is the result of my ransacking the dusty pigeon-holes of memory and the condensation of many books, official instructions and writings'. Its tone is informal and colloquial: 'March discipline. Troops will always march off the parade ground at the Slope. As soon as this has been done the order "March at Ease" should be given. When marching at ease the rifle may be carried in any way a soldier fancies.' Nevertheless, the book is full of sound advice on training, organisation and discipline, fire arms, reconnaissance and field engineering, the responsibilities of the Group Pigeon Officer, the proper position to adopt for surviving a dive bomb attack, and how to set a trap for an unwary advancing German cyclist!
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472835573
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 218
Book Description
'The Home Guards are an attacking force lying in wait for, and ready to destroy, any enemy who dares to set foot on out shores.' The Home Guard has been immortalised in British culture in the TV series Dad's Army. Formed by men not eligible for active service – too old, too young, in reserved occupations vital to the war effort – who were expected to resist a German invasion with any resources they had to hand, the Home Guard is the embodiment of plucky British resolve against the odds. The British Home Guard Pocket-Book evokes this spirit. Written by Brig-Gen Green, commanding 4th battalion, Sussex Home Guard and Training Adviser for the Sussex Zone, this book is based on his experience and, in his own words, 'is the result of my ransacking the dusty pigeon-holes of memory and the condensation of many books, official instructions and writings'. Its tone is informal and colloquial: 'March discipline. Troops will always march off the parade ground at the Slope. As soon as this has been done the order "March at Ease" should be given. When marching at ease the rifle may be carried in any way a soldier fancies.' Nevertheless, the book is full of sound advice on training, organisation and discipline, fire arms, reconnaissance and field engineering, the responsibilities of the Group Pigeon Officer, the proper position to adopt for surviving a dive bomb attack, and how to set a trap for an unwary advancing German cyclist!
Men at War
Author: Luke Turner
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 147461888X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
As a child, Luke Turner was obsessed with the Second World War. He spent hours watching Sunday war films, poring over stories of derring-do and relishing in birthday trips to air museums. Lying in bed beneath Airfix fighter planes suspended from his ceiling, he would think about the men that might sit in their cockpits, and whether he could ever be one of them. Now, as an adult who has come to terms with a masculine identity and sexuality that is often erased from dominant military narratives, he undertakes a refreshingly honest analysis of his fascination with the war. In Men at War, Turner looks beyond the increasingly retrogressive and jingoistic ideal of a Britain that never was to recognise men of war as creatures of love, fear, hope and desire. From writers, filmmakers, artists and ordinary men - including those in his own family - Turner assembles a broad cast of characters to bring the war to life. There are conscientious objectors, a bisexual Commando, a pacifist poet who flew for Bomber Command, a transgender RAF pilot, a soldier who suffered in Japanese POW camps and later in life became an LGBT+ activist, and those who simply did what they could just to survive and return home to a complicated peace. As the conflict moves beyond living memory and the last veterans leave us, we are in danger of missing the opportunity to gain a true understanding of this rich history. By exploring a wartime experience that embraces sex, lust and the body as much as tactics and weaponry, Turner argues that the only way we can really understand the Second World War is to get to grips with the complexity of the lives and identities of those who fought and endured it.
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 147461888X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
As a child, Luke Turner was obsessed with the Second World War. He spent hours watching Sunday war films, poring over stories of derring-do and relishing in birthday trips to air museums. Lying in bed beneath Airfix fighter planes suspended from his ceiling, he would think about the men that might sit in their cockpits, and whether he could ever be one of them. Now, as an adult who has come to terms with a masculine identity and sexuality that is often erased from dominant military narratives, he undertakes a refreshingly honest analysis of his fascination with the war. In Men at War, Turner looks beyond the increasingly retrogressive and jingoistic ideal of a Britain that never was to recognise men of war as creatures of love, fear, hope and desire. From writers, filmmakers, artists and ordinary men - including those in his own family - Turner assembles a broad cast of characters to bring the war to life. There are conscientious objectors, a bisexual Commando, a pacifist poet who flew for Bomber Command, a transgender RAF pilot, a soldier who suffered in Japanese POW camps and later in life became an LGBT+ activist, and those who simply did what they could just to survive and return home to a complicated peace. As the conflict moves beyond living memory and the last veterans leave us, we are in danger of missing the opportunity to gain a true understanding of this rich history. By exploring a wartime experience that embraces sex, lust and the body as much as tactics and weaponry, Turner argues that the only way we can really understand the Second World War is to get to grips with the complexity of the lives and identities of those who fought and endured it.
The Real 'Dad's Army'
Author: Rodney Foster
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0670919829
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 511
Book Description
Colonel Rodney Foster, who retired to Hythe in the south of England after a military career in British India, joined the Home Guard in 1940 and kept a diary every day - a highly illegal act at the time - and in it meticulously chronicled his service in the real Dad's Army.
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0670919829
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 511
Book Description
Colonel Rodney Foster, who retired to Hythe in the south of England after a military career in British India, joined the Home Guard in 1940 and kept a diary every day - a highly illegal act at the time - and in it meticulously chronicled his service in the real Dad's Army.
World War II & the media. A collection of original essays.
Author: Christopher Hart
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1910481009
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 188
Book Description
A collection of original essays from leading academics on the media during and after World War 2. The chapters in this volume address both contemporary and post-war uses of World War 2 - with contributions from television, journalism, cinema, popular music, radio and popular memory studies.
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1910481009
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 188
Book Description
A collection of original essays from leading academics on the media during and after World War 2. The chapters in this volume address both contemporary and post-war uses of World War 2 - with contributions from television, journalism, cinema, popular music, radio and popular memory studies.
The Complete A-Z of Dad's Army
Author: Richard Webber
Publisher: Orion Publishing Company
ISBN: 9780752846378
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
'The success of Dad's Army can be summed up in a line from the first episode when the bumptious Captain Mainwaring says: "The machine-guns could have a clear field of fire from here to Timothy White's ... if it wasn't for that woman in the telephone box."' The Independent Dad's Army is quite simply the most successful British TV sitcom of all time. 80 episodes were made and are constantly repeated. The first black-and-white series, re-shown for the first time in 1999, attracted 4.6m viewers outperforming Have I got News for You and very nearly outstripping Channel Four's most popular programme Friends. When the second series was shown on Saturday nights in 1998 it took 7 million viewers and 40% of the audience. This book will be the last word on the series. There have been other books, but this is first to present the whole story from how the series got made - scripts, locations, filming, the real history of the Home Guard, the background to the actors who played in the series, every episode catalogued and much more. The creators have volunteered to open their archives, which include the original programme research, annotated scripts and location photographs. Now recognised as one of the great shows of this and any TV era, Perry and Croft have decided the programme requires a monument and this book will be it.
Publisher: Orion Publishing Company
ISBN: 9780752846378
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
'The success of Dad's Army can be summed up in a line from the first episode when the bumptious Captain Mainwaring says: "The machine-guns could have a clear field of fire from here to Timothy White's ... if it wasn't for that woman in the telephone box."' The Independent Dad's Army is quite simply the most successful British TV sitcom of all time. 80 episodes were made and are constantly repeated. The first black-and-white series, re-shown for the first time in 1999, attracted 4.6m viewers outperforming Have I got News for You and very nearly outstripping Channel Four's most popular programme Friends. When the second series was shown on Saturday nights in 1998 it took 7 million viewers and 40% of the audience. This book will be the last word on the series. There have been other books, but this is first to present the whole story from how the series got made - scripts, locations, filming, the real history of the Home Guard, the background to the actors who played in the series, every episode catalogued and much more. The creators have volunteered to open their archives, which include the original programme research, annotated scripts and location photographs. Now recognised as one of the great shows of this and any TV era, Perry and Croft have decided the programme requires a monument and this book will be it.